SAN JOSE — Striking back at recent anti-immigration rhetoric that has filled the airwaves, social media and the halls of Congress since the Paris attacks, immigrants and their advocates on Friday rallied to push for swift action to permit more immigrants to remain legally in the country.

Gathering on the plaza of San Jose City Hall, about 100 people called for unblocking federal programs to temporarily protect both young and old from deportation.

The rally coincided with the U.S. Justice Department on Friday morning seeking a Supreme Court review of a Texas court’s decision that have put those programs on hold.

Speakers also decried anti-immigrant comments that has escalated since the Paris attacks, including a U.S. House vote Wednesday that could hold up resettlement of Syrian refugees.

“In a time of hate, we must be love,” Father Jon Pedigo, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose, said. “At a time of exclusion, we must be inclusive.”

The rally marked the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s programs to extend temporary protection from deportation — one would expand a 2012 program for young people who were brought to the United States as minors, the other would protect parents of citizens and permanent residents. Together, the initiatives are estimated to provide a temporary haven for up to 5 million immigrants, including 79,000 in the Bay Area. Both have been blocked by the Texas appellate court decision earlier this year.

“The immigration system is broken,” she said. “We need top to bottom reform of our immigration laws.” But Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive reform, once an Obama priority.

She also said she has watched in dismay the vilification of refugees fleeing violence and upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and called out Republicans for falling “into the trap of hate speech against immigrants.”

Even in the tolerant Bay Area, immigrants observe warily as anti-immigrant speech has escalated. “It impacts the normal things we go about in our lives,” said Lucila Ortiz, brought here illegally at age 11 by her parents. She received a temporary stay of deportation through Obama’s initial 2012 program for child arrivals, who often are called Dreamers.

The program known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — “changed my whole life,” said Ortiz, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Jose State, teaches at De Anza College and works as a liaison for San Jose Councilman Raul Peralez.

It’s an expansion of DACA, plus a program for parents of legal residents that are on hold.

“It would provide a tremendous relief for our family,” said Maria Cruz, who has lived in San Jose since 1997. “We would not have to continue to live in fear of deportation and being separated from our three beautiful children,” said Cruz. It also would enable her and her husband, who both work in housekeeping, to secure better jobs and to buy a home.

The Paris attacks and the Republican candidates’ strident calls to block Syrian refugees — Donald Trump wants to track all Muslims in the country — have put immigration advocates on the defensive. But xenophobic declarations have not found as many receptive ears here as elsewhere in the country.

Next week the city of San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced, will join other cities in filing a brief with the Supreme Court in support of enacting the DACA and DAPA laws to stay deportation.

SAN JOSE — Striking back at recent anti-immigration rhetoric that has filled the airwaves, social media and the halls of Congress since the Paris attacks, immigrants and their advocates on Friday rallied to push for swift action to permit more immigrants to remain legally in the country.

Gathering on the plaza of San Jose City Hall, about 100 people called for unblocking federal programs to temporarily protect both young and old from deportation.

The rally coincided with the U.S. Justice Department on Friday morning seeking a Supreme Court review of a Texas court’s decision that have put those programs on hold.

Speakers also decried anti-immigrant comments that has escalated since the Paris attacks, including a U.S. House vote Wednesday that could hold up resettlement of Syrian refugees.

“In a time of hate, we must be love,” Father Jon Pedigo, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose, said. “At a time of exclusion, we must be inclusive.”

The rally marked the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s programs to extend temporary protection from deportation — one would expand a 2012 program for young people who were brought to the United States as minors, the other would protect parents of citizens and permanent residents. Together, the initiatives are estimated to provide a temporary haven for up to 5 million immigrants, including 79,000 in the Bay Area. Both have been blocked by the Texas appellate court decision earlier this year.

“The immigration system is broken,” she said. “We need top to bottom reform of our immigration laws.” But Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive reform, once an Obama priority.

She also said she has watched in dismay the vilification of refugees fleeing violence and upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and called out Republicans for falling “into the trap of hate speech against immigrants.”

Even in the tolerant Bay Area, immigrants observe warily as anti-immigrant speech has escalated. “It impacts the normal things we go about in our lives,” said Lucila Ortiz, brought here illegally at age 11 by her parents. She received a temporary stay of deportation through Obama’s initial 2012 program for child arrivals, who often are called Dreamers.

The program known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — “changed my whole life,” said Ortiz, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Jose State, teaches at De Anza College and works as a liaison for San Jose Councilman Raul Peralez.

It’s an expansion of DACA, plus a program for parents of legal residents that are on hold.

“It would provide a tremendous relief for our family,” said Maria Cruz, who has lived in San Jose since 1997. “We would not have to continue to live in fear of deportation and being separated from our three beautiful children,” said Cruz. It also would enable her and her husband, who both work in housekeeping, to secure better jobs and to buy a home.

The Paris attacks and the Republican candidates’ strident calls to block Syrian refugees — Donald Trump wants to track all Muslims in the country — have put immigration advocates on the defensive. But xenophobic declarations have not found as many receptive ears here as elsewhere in the country.

Next week the city of San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced, will join other cities in filing a brief with the Supreme Court in support of enacting the DACA and DAPA laws to stay deportation.

SAN JOSE — Striking back at recent anti-immigration rhetoric that has filled the airwaves, social media and the halls of Congress since the Paris attacks, immigrants and their advocates on Friday rallied to push for swift action to permit more immigrants to remain legally in the country.

Gathering on the plaza of San Jose City Hall, about 100 people called for unblocking federal programs to temporarily protect both young and old from deportation.

The rally coincided with the U.S. Justice Department on Friday morning seeking a Supreme Court review of a Texas court’s decision that have put those programs on hold.

Speakers also decried anti-immigrant comments that has escalated since the Paris attacks, including a U.S. House vote Wednesday that could hold up resettlement of Syrian refugees.

“In a time of hate, we must be love,” Father Jon Pedigo, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose, said. “At a time of exclusion, we must be inclusive.”

The rally marked the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s programs to extend temporary protection from deportation — one would expand a 2012 program for young people who were brought to the United States as minors, the other would protect parents of citizens and permanent residents. Together, the initiatives are estimated to provide a temporary haven for up to 5 million immigrants, including 79,000 in the Bay Area. Both have been blocked by the Texas appellate court decision earlier this year.

“The immigration system is broken,” she said. “We need top to bottom reform of our immigration laws.” But Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive reform, once an Obama priority.

She also said she has watched in dismay the vilification of refugees fleeing violence and upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and called out Republicans for falling “into the trap of hate speech against immigrants.”

Even in the tolerant Bay Area, immigrants observe warily as anti-immigrant speech has escalated. “It impacts the normal things we go about in our lives,” said Lucila Ortiz, brought here illegally at age 11 by her parents. She received a temporary stay of deportation through Obama’s initial 2012 program for child arrivals, who often are called Dreamers.

The program known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — “changed my whole life,” said Ortiz, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Jose State, teaches at De Anza College and works as a liaison for San Jose Councilman Raul Peralez.

It’s an expansion of DACA, plus a program for parents of legal residents that are on hold.

“It would provide a tremendous relief for our family,” said Maria Cruz, who has lived in San Jose since 1997. “We would not have to continue to live in fear of deportation and being separated from our three beautiful children,” said Cruz. It also would enable her and her husband, who both work in housekeeping, to secure better jobs and to buy a home.

The Paris attacks and the Republican candidates’ strident calls to block Syrian refugees — Donald Trump wants to track all Muslims in the country — have put immigration advocates on the defensive. But xenophobic declarations have not found as many receptive ears here as elsewhere in the country.

Next week the city of San Jose, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced, will join other cities in filing a brief with the Supreme Court in support of enacting the DACA and DAPA laws to stay deportation.